A DEEP OCEAN OF SECRETS
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rose was immediately wrapped up
in blankets as she was put into the lifeboat. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t
think…the pain was gone, and so was Jack. She watched him float down into the
peaceful abyss.
*****
"Fifteen hundred people went
into the sea when Titanic sank from under us. There were twenty boats floating
nearby, and only one came back…one. Six were saved from the water, myself
included. Six, out of fifteen hundred. Afterward, the seven hundred people in
the boats had nothing to do but wait. Wait to die, wait to live. Wait for an
absolution that would never come."
*****
The dark night moved to an early,
gloomy dawn. The seven hundred people in the boats could only wait, wait for
anything. Rose lay in the lifeboat, watching an officer waving a green light to
catch a nearby ship’s attention. She was as white as a moon, but no longer
truly cold. But she felt a loneliness and emptiness. She could only hope that
Elisabeth had survived. But as she looked around her, she had a feeling that
she didn’t.
She closed her eyes, and when she
opened them, the lifeboat was right beside a ship’s hull. The yellow words read
Carpathia. Rose looked around in awe and sat up. She kept the blankets tightly
wrapped around her as she was helped on board. Fifth Officer Lowe, the man who
had rescued her, put a steady hand on her back. He was young, looking no older
than Rose, with dark, curly hair and concerned eyes. He was tall and
well-built, handsome, but Rose could only think of Jack.
"Are you all right,
miss?" he asked. He handed her a cup of hot tea. She took it gratefully
and wrapped her plaid blanket around her shoulders tightly. She pulled half of
the blanket on top of her curls so nobody would recognize her.
"Yes. Thank you," she
mumbled.
"If you need a survivor list
from the boats, the names have been collected by that officer over there."
Lowe looked sad. "Ma’am, I would advise you to at least take one look for
any family." Rose nodded; he patted her shoulder and moved on. Rose slowly
made her way over to the officer with the names as he scribbled something down
on the clipboard. She approached him, walking and looking like a ghost.
"Do you need a name,
miss?" he asked politely but shortly, as if he had no time. People all
around them were wailing, sobbing, or sitting quietly, hugging their loved
ones.
Rose nodded. At last, she said
quietly, "Elisabeth DeWitt Bukater." Her words were choked and her
face showed no expression.
The man checked the list and
shook his head. "I’m afraid not, miss. There is a Ruth DeWitt Bukater, if
she is some relative."
Rose nodded and felt tears
pricking her eyes. So Elisabeth hadn’t made it. Elisabeth didn’t get to a boat
and didn’t get to safety. She had broken her promise. She turned and found a
spot on a bench down in steerage by the stern. She felt somewhat better being
in third class. She kept the blanket over her curls and sipped her tea quietly,
mourning over both Jack and her sister.
Suddenly, Rose heard a voice a
couple of feet away from her. "You won’t find any of your people down
here. It’s all steerage," the man said. Rose froze--she knew it was Cal.
She tried to sink underneath the blanket as he passed behind her. She glanced
at him and saw him standing by the rail, looking around. His hair flopped into
his eyes, so much like Jack’s, and his tuxedo was stained by the saltwater near
the collar. As he looked her way, she turned around, stricken in shock, hoping
that he wouldn’t see her. He didn’t. She heard him walk away, and was thankful
that he didn’t approach her.
*****
"That was the last time I
ever saw him. He married, of course, and inherited his millions. But the crash
of ’29 hit his interests hard, and he put a pistol in his mouth that year, or
so I read."
*****
The day had turned to night and
it was pouring rain. Rose sat inside the hospital wing, sipping hot tea. She
wasn’t in a condition to be in the hospital, but there was warmth and food. She
felt like being alone. She hadn’t seen her mother since they were on the
Titanic, which seemed so long ago. Ruth DeWitt Bukater didn’t know her daughter
was alive, and she intended for it to continue like that. Rose knew her mother,
and if she knew that she was alive, she would make her go back to first class
and to Cal. That was the complete opposite of what she wanted.
There was chatter around the
room, and Rose was starting to get irritated. She wanted quiet, peace, alone
time. She set her cup of tea aside and stood up. A nurse noticed her movements,
and said, "Miss, we’ll be docking in New York soon."
Rose looked at her and nodded,
then fled from the room. The rain pounded down, but she ignored it. Her hair
was plastered to the sides of her face and her skin was still white and
translucent. She shrugged her jacket all the way onto her shoulders and
continued out onto the deck. In the distance, she could make out the shape of
the Statue of Liberty, standing bright and tall, lit around by gleaming lights,
capturing the rain in its fall to earth. Rose headed down the stairwell to the
back of the ship. She found a spot near the rail and looked up into the dark
night, letting the rain wash over her.
It was cold, the rain not
helping, but Rose didn’t notice. She stood on the deck, staring up at the
Statue of Liberty as they approached New York. Her hair stuck to the sides of
her face and her hands were down at her sides. She was completely still. She
was supposed to see this marvelous sight with Jack, but now he was gone.
And so was Elisabeth. Elisabeth
was ten times more excited to see the Statue of Liberty than she was, and now
she wasn’t even alive to see it. The last time she had seen her was when she
was in the lifeboat, creaking slowly down onto the deep, dark waters of the
Atlantic, leaving her sister on deck, watching her move farther and farther
away. She could still remember her eyes--sad, longing, scared…Rose was lost in
thought until an immigration officer walked up to her slowly with a clipboard
and an umbrella.
"Can I take your name,
please, love?" he asked gently in a British accent.
Rose looked at him for a moment.
"Dawson." Her eyes turned to gaze up at the Statue of Liberty.
"Rose Dawson."
The officer jotted down the name
and moved on with a sad "Thank you." Rose didn’t reply, but continued
to stare at the statue, which Fabrizio had seen so clearly in his mind. She was
Rose Dawson.
Rose was free, a changed woman.
She was seventeen and ready to start her life over. Rose DeWitt Bukater died in
the sinking of the Titanic…
*****
One hundred-year-old Rose looked
like she was in a distant zone, her eyes having a faraway look as she told her
story. Her hand moved to her pocket and she pulled out three yellowed
clippings, looking like they came from the newspaper. The paper was old and
yellow with age, and had a smell of age as well. She looked at them and felt
tears coming to her eyes.
"What are those, Nana?"
Lizzy asked, curious. Her eyes were gleaming with tears threatening to fall. A
side of her grandmother had been revealed that she had never seen before.
Rose sighed and looked up, still
holding the papers in her hand. "A couple of days after the Carpathia
docked, about four, I sat on a bench near a park and bought a paper from a
paperboy. Inside the Titanic sinking section, there were a bunch of death
notices for people from the ship who had enough money to put an ad in the
paper." Her voice was choked up now. She handed them to Lizzy, who gasped
when she looked at them.
"Nana?" she said.
"These are dated April 22, 1912."
Rose nodded. "What caught my
attention was…myself and Elisabeth’s death notices." Sad eyes looked at
Lizzy, who stared at the papers. They could all feel tears threatening to fall.
Lizzy grasped the papers lightly,
which could disintegrate right before her eyes. There was a picture of Rose,
her grandmother, taken a couple of days after Cal proposed to her, her red hair
tied in a bun, at the age of sixteen. Strands of her hair fell out of the bun,
outlining her face, the curls ringlet-shaped and dark. She wore a beautiful
dark dress, sleeves long, the collar v-neck and trimmed with fancy lace. She
posed facing front, half-smiling at the camera. Her lips were full and dark,
her eyes looking mischievous, her skin pure and smooth. She was amazingly
beautiful. Next to her picture read:
Miss Rose Katherine DeWitt
Bukater, fiancé of Pittsburgh steel tycoon Caledon Hockley, died in the sinking
of the Titanic on April 14/15, 1912. At the age of seventeen, Miss DeWitt
Bukater was on her way to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for her wedding to Mr.
Hockley. She and Mr. Hockley had been engaged since May of 1911. She was
traveling with her was her mother, Ruth, and her sister, Elisabeth, who sadly
also perished (see below). Miss DeWitt Bukater was the daughter of Richard and
Ruth Bukater of Philadelphia. She traveled in first class, but was said to have
never made it to a lifeboat. Her funeral service will be held in Philadelphia.
Her family and fiancé mourn for her death and send a loving message to her
friends and other relatives.
"Oh, Nana," she
whispered, and turned to the next clipping. It was Elisabeth’s death notice.
The picture of her great aunt reminded her of Rose so much. It was taken the
day of her fifteenth birthday, which had been included with her application to
the expensive boarding school in Philadelphia. It was taken from the side,
Elisabeth’s head tilted over her shoulder. Her loose, blood-colored curls hung
around her shoulders, outlining her face. Her eyes gleamed, her smile big
enough to light up the entire world. She wasn’t looking directly at the camera,
but smiling at something behind her shoulder, which she looked happy at seeing.
She wore a stunning white dress, and in her hand, holding it to her chest, was
a rose. Next to the picture, the article read:
Miss Elisabeth Marie DeWitt
Bukater, at the young age of fifteen, died also in the sinking of the Titanic,
along with her older sister, Rose, on April 14/15, 1912. Miss DeWitt Bukater
was traveling with her mother, Ruth, her sister, and her sister’s fiancé,
Caledon Hockley, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to attend her sister’s wedding,
and to attend the Hatfield Boarding School in Philadelphia. Miss DeWitt
Bukater, daughter of Richard and Ruth Bukater, was born in Philadelphia in
1897. She also traveled first class with her family. The time of death is not
known, for she never made it to a lifeboat. Her funeral service will be held
back in Philadelphia, along with her sister’s. Her mother and Mr. Hockley mourn
over her death, and send a loving message to her friends and other relatives.
"Nana, she looks so much
like you!" Lizzy commented, smiling sadly. "The same eyes, the same
hair…" Rose could only nod.
"Yes, we do look alike,
don’t we?" Rose smiled in fond memory. "She was not only my sister,
but my best friend."
Lizzy flipped to the third and
last clipping and unfolded it carefully, her breath stopping. It was a drawing
of Rose leaning against the rail on the Titanic. Her hair was tied in a bun.
Jack had captured some strands flying around her face in the wind. She was
leaning as far out as she could, a smile plastered on her face. She wore a
beautiful dress with a belt. Past Rose, the sketch showed some of what the deck
of the Titanic had looked like, including other passengers. Jack had captured
her so well; she looked beautiful. In the bottom right corner was the initials
JD, and the date--4/13/1912.
"Jack drew this?" she
asked in disbelief. Rose nodded.
"It was when he and I took
our stroll on deck, when I thanked him for pulling me back over the side of the
ship. He gave it to me after the Irish party. It is all I have left," Rose
said sadly. The drawing and clippings were passed around. "Memories last
forever, as this sketch has done."
Bodine sighed. "We never
found anything on Jack. There’s no record of him at all."
Rose chuckled and smiled softly.
"No, there wouldn’t be, would there? I have never spoken of him until
now." She looked at Lizzy. "Not even to your grandfather. A woman’s
heart is a deep ocean of secrets. But now you know that there was a man named
Jack Dawson, and he saved me, in every way a person can be saved. I don’t even
have a picture of him. He exists now only in my memory."
Rose looked at a monitor that
caught her attention--the bow of the ship. Her eyes flooded with memories and
she closed them sadly, knowing that she had done everything she had promised
Jack she would do.
Finally, at last, she felt
complete.